Dance review: Phoenix Dance - Triple Bill

The evening begins with Melt, which dates back to 2011, created and choreographed by Phoenix’s artistic director Sharon Watson. It is a beautifully fluid piece using seven dancers, all dressed in white, played out to the music of Wild Beasts. It is hypnotic, rythmic, at times warm and playful; there are sequences employing aerial work with ropes, requiring incredibly precise technique from the dancers. A joy to watch. After the first interval comes Kate Flatt’s Undivided Loves, an intriguing piece with three dancers – two men and a woman – that subtly explores the mystery of Shakespeare’s sonnets using movement, music and the spoken word. The question of who the sonnets were written for is elegantly examined in a dream-like journey through love, desire, duplicity and betrayal, to the accompanient of a vibrant score by Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale, performing live on stage with the dancers. The final part of the triple bill is the world premiere of Itzik Galili’s new version of his piece Until.With/Out.Enough, first created in 1997. The company of seven dancers brought incredible energy and intensity to an abstract, thought-provoking piece that packs a huge emotional punch with its exploration of intimacy and the closed-off places inside our heads.

To February 20, then touring.